Father, keep the trials light and evil away.

God is a good Father who tests us to reveal and refine what’s within us while standing ready to rescue us from evil.

One of the most dangerous mistakes you can make is to let down your guard around anything or anyone that poses a severe threat.

Depending on your age, you may remember the Las Vegas performers Siegfried and Roy. They were illusionists best known for their work with white lions and tigers.

For 13 years, they worked with these wild animals at the Mirage without incident. Sadly, on October 3, 2003, Roy Horn made a critical mistake. When the seven-year-old white tiger, Mantacore, wandered off his mark, Roy attempted to use his arm to guide him back in place, rather than walking him in a circle, as was the protocol. In response, Mantacore bit his sleeve, swiped his leg, and pounced on top of him. He then proceeded to bite Roy’s neck and carry him offstage, slicing through a vertebrae and severing an artery that cut off the blood to the right side of his brain, resulting in Roy having a stroke after the attack. One onlooker said it required four men and a fire extinguisher to get the tiger off him.

Here’s why I tell you this story: Those animals may have been highly trained, but they weren’t truly domesticated. They were still wild animals and exceedingly dangerous. Forgetting this and letting down his guard for a split second almost cost Roy his life. This story serves as a tragic example of the danger of letting down your guard around a severe threat.

Here’s the thing: This is a mistake that we're all prone to make when it comes to the threat present in the evil that resides within each of our own hearts and the evil present in this world.

In Romans 7:18-19, Paul acknowledges the prevalence of his own sin and ours, writing, "For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do." Even the most righteous among us still have evil lingering within ourselves.

Furthermore, in Ephesians 6:12, he writes, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil spiritual forces in the heavens." There is a real spiritual enemy active in this world that is bent on our destruction.

Despite all this, we are prone to live with our guard down, leaving ourselves vulnerable to the very real threat of this evil. This is why Jesus teaches us to pray this final petition of the Our Father. In verse 13, Jesus teaches us to pray,

“And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Let’s bring the same three questions to this petition as we have the others.

What do these words say about God?

At the very least, it teaches us that God is a protective Father committed to forming Christ in us.

The Greek word that's translated here as "temptation" can be a bit misleading. It could lead us to believe that we have to ask God not to tempt us with evil. However, it can't mean that because God doesn't tempt us with evil. James 1:13 says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone."

The Greek word often translated as "temptation" carries the general meaning of "test." And God certainly "tests" His people. In Matthew 4:1, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness "to be tested." In Genesis 22:1, we read, "After these things God tested Abraham..." In Deuteronomy 8:2, we read that God allowed the people of Israel to wander in the wilderness to humble and test them. So God certainly tests His people. The question is why? What is His motive? It’s not that He takes some sick joy in watching us struggle.

God tests us to reveal and refine what lies within us.

In fact, this same Greek word is used to describe the process of refining gold. Gold refining through fire, known as "fire assaying," is a meticulous process that purifies the precious metal. First, the gold is melted at extremely high temperatures to separate impurities like base metals and other elements. This intense heat causes impurities to oxidize and form a stony waste called slag, which is then removed. The remaining molten gold is carefully poured into molds, resulting in blocks of higher purity. It’s the unrelenting heat of fire that ensures only the resilient, pure gold endures, while impurities are reduced to ashes. This centuries-old technique exemplifies the transformative power of fire in extracting and refining one of the world's most coveted elements.

Here’s my point: God is committed to refining who you truly are.

Because of evil, you and I are like unrefined gold. There are impurities fused to every part of us, and God tests us through trials to separate them out and remove them from us.

The problem is, within every test from God is the temptation of the evil one. Evil wants to take what God means to refine and instead use it to hinder our formation. It wants us to live from our flesh rather than surrendering to God’s Spirit. It aims to twist the tests of God meant to strengthen our faith and instead use them to destroy it. Maybe a way to paraphrase this prayer would be this: “Abba, due to my own weakness, please don’t lead me into high-pressure trials.”

That being said, we simply have to come to terms with the fact that God is more committed to forming Christ in us than in keeping us comfortable. He is our Comforter, but we are never promised a life of constant comfort. God is even willing to allow temporary suffering for the purpose of our eternal sanctification. To embrace the way of Jesus is to embrace the many tests from God.

What do these words say about us?

This prayer reminds us that our spiritual weakness makes us vulnerable to spiritual attack. Here’s how we can be sure of that: If we weren't spiritually weak, Jesus wouldn’t need to tell us to pray for protection. When it comes to the problem of evil in us and in this world, N.T. Wright tells us that we're prone to one of three wrong answers:

The first is, DENIAL.

Within our culture, it has become common to deny the reality of evil. Everything is a matter of perspective, preference, and personal choice. There is no objective good, and no objective evil. While Christians believe there is objective good and evil, we deny its threat functionally when we see no reason to pray for protection.

The second mistake is, DROWNING.

Where denial sees no evil, drowning only sees it. Evil is all there is; there’s a demon around every corner, and we are without hope. This drowning denies the victory of the cross and the presence of Christ’s kingdom on this earth.

The third mistake is, SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Self-righteousness acknowledges the presence of evil but mistakenly believes that it is the answer to it. “I’m just going to be better than everyone else.” Because pride is the engine of self-righteousness, it poisons the human soul.

Wright goes on to say, “Jesus’ way is to recognize the reality and power of evil and to confront it with the reality and power of the kingdom-announcement.” In Jesus, the kingdom of God has come. Evil has been and is being defeated right now. Evil won’t win because Jesus already has. So we grieve evil, we fight against it, and we seek the kingdom of God more and more. One way we do this is to pray, “Abba, due to my own weakness, please don’t lead me into high-pressure trials. If you do, please rescue me from the evil present within them.”

How might we more faithfully pray like this?

In short, we must become aware, alert, and active. Let me break down these three responses. Here are three responses to spiritual threat:

Be aware of your weakness.

We need to embrace, in the general sense, that we are spiritually weak and thus susceptible to spiritual attack. There is little more dangerous than naively believing you’re safe when you’re not. Evil is like the villain that never really dies in every scary movie. We also do well to be students of our own weakness. Reflect on the areas where you are weak. Maybe you’re prone to want control. Perhaps you’re enslaved to comfort. You might be feeling weary right now or isolated from community. We must be aware of our weakness.

Be alert to the evil one’s ways.

It’s worth pointing out that neither Hebrew nor Aramaic uses “the evil one” to denote Satan, so there’s a good case to make that Jesus is telling us to ask God to deliver us from evil in general. That being said, we do have a spiritual enemy, and we do well to understand how he works.

If we study the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Genesis story and the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, we learn that the enemy specializes in sowing seeds of suspicion around who God is and what He’s like. He tries to focus our attention on the desolation of this life so we won’t see the goodness of God. He tempts us to try and force God’s hand or take matters into our own. We must be alert to the evil one’s ways.

Be active in seeking protection.

We need to seek God as our refuge and rescuer from evil. One way we do this is through prayer, by asking our strong Father to protect us. We also achieve this through repentance. Repentance is returning to what God says is good. When we repent, we run back to Him. Additionally, we seek protection by continually taking off our old self and putting on our new self, as Paul says in Colossians 3:9-10.

Due to the very real spiritual threat in our lives, we must be aware of our weakness, alert to the evil one’s ways, and active in seeking protection. If I were going to summarize all this in a single phrase, here’s what I'd say:

Good news, right?

It’s good news, but also sobering.

Imagine waking up tomorrow, and before you do anything else - before you look at your phone, before coffee, breakfast, your workout, or your shower - imagine that before you do anything else, you hear me knocking on your front door. As you answer, I ask if we can sit and have a quick chat. Imagine we sit down on your sofa, I look you dead in your eyes and say, “This day is filled with danger for you. There is a sickness in you that wants to poison everything in your life. That same sickness will be present everywhere you go and within everyone with whom you interact. Oh, and by the way, you have a very real enemy that wants to destroy your life.”

Imagine how unnerving that conversation would be for you. Think about how differently you would walk through the day. My guess is there would be a much higher degree of vigilance. You’d be paying attention. You’d have a wartime mentality, and you’d keep your guard up.

Here’s why I want you to imagine this scenario. What I just said to you is the subtext of Jesus’ closing petition. He’s saying, “There is still evil inside you. There is evil in this world. There is an evil spiritual enemy who wants to destroy you. You need to be aware of that. You need to be alert to that. You need to actively seek my protection because you can’t properly protect yourself.”

While the evil that infects this world is bad news, Jesus offers us very good news in the midst of it. God is a good Father who tests us to reveal and refine what’s within us, while standing ready to rescue us from evil. So let’s seek His protection together.

EXPERIENTIAL

Each morning, perhaps before you even get out of bed, do a quick mental scan of your day.

• Consider the tasks you’re responsible for completing.

• Consider the errands you need to run.

• Consider any appointments you may have or projects to tackle.

• Consider the inevitable interactions in front of you.

Next, ask the Holy Spirit this question:

“Where am I vulnerable and in need of the Father’s protection?”

This invites Him to bring your awareness to any potential threats present within the day: the temptation to be lazy rather than fruitful, the threat of harm as you walk, bike, drive, or fly from place to place, the temptation to be hurried instead of present and mindful, and the temptation to put yourself first rather than serve others.

As He brings these things to mind, pray a simple prayer over them:

“Father, protect me.”

After that, move through the day, trusting that your perfect Father always makes good on every one of His promises and be confident that He surrounds you. You are His and He will rescue you.